May 29-30th: Heidelberg

Heidelberg was the last stay on our trip. Situated on the Neckar river, the city scape is dominated by the ruins of the Heidelberg Castle. Built between 1398 and 1410, it was first destroyed during the 30 years war and then again by the French.
We stayed in a wonderful little hotel, the 530 year-old Die Hirschgasse, which is said to be Heidelberg’s oldest building!
According to their web site, the hotel has attracted many tourists including Mark Twain who referred to it in “A Tramp Abroad” and Count Bismark who carved his name into a 200 year-old table in ‘Mensurstube’, the hotel’s historic restaurant named after the student duelling associations. Heidelberg is also Germany’s oldest seat of learning. My father’s uncle studies there around the first war. I can imaging he may have visited the pub we went to located in the centre of the old town